Car replacer fastening device



July 28, 1942- v H. M. ALDERMAN CAR REPLACER FASTENING DEVICE Filed001;. 6, 1941 Harry MA Zdermaw,

s/1 v w z 1 can REPLACER FASTENING nnvroa Harry M. Alderman, Chicago,n1.

Application October 6, 1941, Serial No. 413,875

2 Claims. (Cl. 164-274) This invention relates to car replacers and moreparticularly to a fastening device to be 4 used for the purpose ofsecuring a car replacer to a track rail.

Owing to the fact that railroad cars frequently become derailed in one.way or another, es-

pecially in and around station yards, it is cus-. tomary to carry on alltrains one or more socalled car replacers. These are devices in thenature of a ramp or block having inclined ends, which devices areadapted to be laid alongside a rail for the purpose of guiding aderailed wheel up onto the track again.

The usual method of fastening these car replacers in position, when itis necessary to use them, is to fasten them to the ties by means ofspikes. It has been found in practice, however, that this method ofsecuring the car replacers is extremely unsatisfactory for the reasonthat, owing to the tremendous strains to which they are subjected, theyfrequently break loose when engaged by a derailed wheel, with the resultthat such wheel, instead ofriding back upon the rail as intended, dragsalong the ties for a substantial distance, thus often doing considerabledamage.

The general object of the present invention is to provide improved meansfor fastening or anchoring such a car replacer in position, so thatitwill remain securely in position while the wh'eel rides up along it,without danger of breaking loose.

A further object is to provide a fastening device of this characterwhich shall be simplein construction and may be readily and quicklyapplied when required, without the use of spikes or bolts.

A still further object-is to provide a fastening device of the typereferred to so constructed that the greater the strain imposed upon it,

the tighter it will hold.

In order that the invention may bereadily understood, reference is hadto the accompanying drawing, forming part of this specification, and inwhich:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of my improved fastening device;

Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof;

Figs. 3 and 4 are plan views on a reduced scale, showing a car replacerin dotted lines and 1? lustratlng different methods in which my improvedfastening device may be used for securing such a car replacer inposition;

the line 5 5 of Fig. 4.1ooking in the direction of the'arrows; and

Fig. 6 is a similar view illustrating the efiect of a car wheel on thefastening device.

Referring to the drawing in detail, A designotes a railroad rail and Bthe usual ties to which it is secured.

C designates any usual or desired form of car replacer, but since theexact construction of such replacer forms no part of my invention, I

have illustrated in dotted lines only a conventional form for thepurpose of showing its relation to the railroad rail and to my improvedfastening device.

Referring more particularly to Figs. 1 and 2, my improved fastenercomprises a rigid bar I having one end preferably pointed as shown at 2and provided with an angularly disposed jaw 3 adapted to engage over thebase flange of the rail A, as shown in Fig. 5.

The car replacer C usually rests 'upon the ties as shown in Figs. 3 and5, and my improved fastener extends underneath both the rail and thereplacer, between the ties.

At its other end, the bar I is provided with an upstanding portion 5adapted to engage the outer side of the car replacer C as shown in Fig.5. Instead of being at exactly right angles to the body of the bar I,this upstanding portion 5 is preferably inclined slightly thereto, so asto be disposed at an acute angle, as clearly shown in Fig. l.

Fig. 5 is a transverse section substantially on It has heretofore beenproposed to fasten a car replacer to the rail by means of a clamp ex- Itending underneath the rail, and engaging both I the rail flange and theside of the car replacer,

but in allsuch cases of which I am aware, the portion of the clampbearing against the car replacer has been provided with an ordinary flatface, and the clamp has extended at right angles to the rail.

In my improved construction, however, 1 provide the upstanding portionor my fastening device with a sharp edge which is adapted to engaze andbite into the outer side of the car replacer, in such a manner as toprevent slipping.-

This can be conveniently accomplished, as shown in the drawing, bymaking the upstanding portion 5 of polygonal section such, for example,as square, the section being disposed diagonally with respect to theaxis of the bar I so that a wedgeshaped face providing a corner or sharpedge 8 is presented, on the inner side of the portion 5. While a squaresection has been illustrated, it is obvious a triangular or othersection could likeridges 4 and 6, bearing against and biting my improvedfastening rail flange is preferably the center of the upbiting into theedge of vertical sharp ridges 4. Preferably, the comer I of the anglebetween the jaw the bar isof convex form when viewed in plan and isserrated throughout its length so as to series of substantially verticalteeth provide a A single central knife edge or ridge or ridges.

, may, however, be employed, if desired.

In Fig. 3, I have shown the car replacer C as lying with its inner sidein contact with the rail and with my improved fastening device extendingunderneath and embracing the rail and car replacer as above described.The distance between the engaging ridges I and B is preferably somewhatgreater than the combined width of the rail base and car replacer sothat my improved fastening device may be easily and loosely applied,when in a position extending substantially at right angles to the rail.A slight longitudinal shifting of the car replacer then cause thefastening .device to swing into an angular or in clined position asshown in Fig. 3, thus tightly binding the parts together. In otherwords, the

a and the body of into therail car replacer, respectively, constitutepivots aboutwhich the fastening device may swing into an angularposition.

Assuming that the derailed wheel D is moving in the direction of thearrow in Fig. 4, it will be obvious that the greater'the endwise thrustexerted against the car replacer by such wheel, the tighter will myimproved fastening device bind the replacer to the rail, this being dueto the slight angular position of the fastener; and to the fact that thesharp ridges prevent its slipping with respect to either the rail or thefastener.

While in Fig. 3 I have shown the car replacer as lying in contact withthe rail, I have illustrated in Fig. 4 a slightly different arrangement.In this latter arrangement, the car replacer is disposed at a slightangle to the rail and is spaced therefrom at one end by means of ,ablock E which may conveniently take the form of a wooden wedge. In thiscase also, however, it will beseen that my improved fastening device isdisposed at a slight angle to the rail and the same binding action willresult from the application of endwise thrust to the car replacer. Thus,

my improved fastening device is applicable to many diiferent forms,sizes and arrangements of car replacers, whether applied with or withoutspacing blocks or wedges, the particular method of application beingdetermined by the particular type of car replacer employed.

Referring again to Figs. 1 and 5, it will be seen that the lower anangle to the horizontal much greater than the angle of the base flangeof the rail, so that when the fastener is applied, a substantial amountof space is provided between the jaw and the upper surface of the railflange.

The purpose of this is well illustrated by Fig. 6. As shown in thisfigure, it sometimes happens that the derailed wheel may fail toproperly ride up the car replacer as intended, but may slip down alongthe outer side thereof. When this happe it is likely to engage the upperend of the upstanding portion 5 of the fastener and force it down intothe position shown in Fig. 6. The clearance between the jaw l and theupper surface of the rail flange thus permits the fastener to swing downinto the position shown in Fig. 6 without bending or breaking, as wouldbe the case if the jaw fit the rail flange snugly.

What I claim is:

1. A fastening device for securing car replacers to a rail comprising arigid bar adapted to extend underneath both the replacer and the rail towhich it issecured, said bar having at one end an angularly disposed jawadapted to engage over theedge of a rail flange, and at its other end anupstanding portion adapted to engage the outer side of a car replacer,the angle of said jaw being substantially greater than that of the railflange, -whereby sumcient space is provided between said jaw and theupper surface of the rail flange to permit the other end of said bar toswing freely downwardly around the edge of the rail as a pivot, ifdepressed by engagement of acar wheel therewith.

2. A fastening device for securing car replacers -to a rail comprising arigid bar adapted to extend underneath both the replacer and the rail towhich it is secured, said bar having at one end a rail engaging portionand at the other end an upstanding portion adapted to engage the outerside of a car replacer, said upstanding portion being of polygonalsection and having at its inner side a wedge-shaped face providing asharp centrally disposed knife edge adapted to bite into the carreplacer, said edge constituting a pivot about which said bar may swinginto a position at an acute angle to the rail.

HARRY M. ALDERMAN.

face of the law 3 is disposed at

